PA-QUAKERS-L Archives

From: "Tom Wilson" <>
Subject: WILSON family of Pennsylvania and North Carolina
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 15:07:48 -0400

Listmates:

Here is my occasional posting re my WILSON family in PA and NC. It has
political, historical and genealogical interests for all lists posted as
recipients. My purpose is to find links / cousins / descendants of the
WILSON family featured. I descend from Jasper WILSON who is the 8th
child (of 10) of James and Abigail (BLACKBURN) WILSON. The lead article
sets the stage and explains fairly well why this family has been so
elusive to research.brick walls are in the form of secrets! I would be
more than happy to share more detailed info on this family per your
request. Thanks!

- Tom Wilson (see below)
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Source of article below: Walter W. H. Wilson of Houston, Texas

The Protestant Episcopal Church of Huntingdon was part of the so called
American Church, a missionary branch of the English Church. It was
staffed by missionaries sent by the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Lands (SPG) from London. The Parson of the church in
Huntingdon was one Daniel Battwell, a Cambridge man by schooling. It is
said that the British Empire was created by the SPG. The King had
headed this church since the time of Henry VIII. (Walter W. H. Wilson
thinks the SPG was formed about 1600.)

Reverend Battwell and the other missionaries had no doubt held
discussions about what to do about those in revolt's desires to remove
the royal families presence from the prayers in the American Church, but
they had resisted. Jesper, John Sr. and Jr. and James Wilson had been
Vestrymen and wardens in the Huntingdon Church, and may have signed the
petition to form the church in 1749. Those in revolt caught Rev.
Battwell in York, dunked him in the stream, and took his horse. Later,
they treated him to a time in the York jail. It appears that John
Wilson had close ties with Battwell or Loyalist activities. When a
justice sent for him, he fled. He was attained of high treason and his
estate was seized, but his wife lived out her life on it before it was
sold.

Research on the other members of the family is difficult. They took a
low profile. The church went into hiding or was reduced to a shell.
Reverend Battwell became a Chaplain of a Loyalist Regiment and then went
back to England where he had been a successful preacher. John Wilson,
of York County, Pennsylvania, was never found in the list of Loyalists
who fought or moved to England or Canada. Jesper Wilson died in
November 1770. He left money from his plantation and the place where he
lived to his wife, who he does not mention by name, and his daughter's
children. No trace of his property listed in his will can be found in
deeds or land records. His wife, Ann, left money to the heirs of John
Wilson, Jr., but none has been found for James Wilson or his heirs. Her
record of the gift to John Wilson, Jr's heirs is found in the land
records and not in a will.

James and Abigail lived, it appears, in Tyrone Township, York County,
Pennsylvania (now Huntingdon) until almost the end of the Revolution,
late 1782, without leaving any tracks that can be found. Abigail left a
record that she traveled to Center Quaker meeting in the Warrington
Meeting (York County), but she never showed up in Center (North
Carolina) as a Quaker. Walter W. H. Wilson first found her there in
Guilford County, North Carolina where she buys 500 acres of land in
1790. James was with the family there earlier. Odd thing; a John
Wilson was in the Center area in 1783 in the land of John Parker which
is a part of the land Abigail bought there in 1590.

RESEARCH NOTES SINCE THIS ARTICLE:

1. Jesper probably had at least two brothers named Samuel and Thomas.
One of James' sons is named Samuel.
2. This Wilson line had ties in the Revolutionary War period to Wilson
families in Chester County, PA and Delaware.
3. James, son of Jesper and brother of John Wilson, Jr., no doubt was
not treated as harshly as his brother John Jr.; he is believed to have
signed an oath to the patriot cause. He remained neutral during the war
which, no doubt, upset his father, Jesper enough to exclude him from any
inheritance in favor of John Jr.
4. Based on the location of birth of James and Abigail's twins in 1767
(Jasper and Rebecca), it would be safe to say the James Wilson family
was in North Carolina as early as 1766 (versus 1782 as mentioned in the
article above). Perhaps the final move was in 1782, but the family was
in NC in 1767. Did James move to NC to join other WILSON cousins?
5. John Jr. was probably named after Jesper's father, who was probably
known as John Sr. It was not uncommon to have "Srs" and "Jrs" skip a
generation or two in that era as an emphasis of a special honor. Today,
a "Jr" is typically the son of a "Sr".
6. Abigail was "disowned" by the Quakers when it was discovered she had
married outside of the Society of Friends. The "disowning" procedures
were carried out by her father, John Blackburn, Sr., a well known Quaker
elder of the Warrington Meeting and the Menallen Meeting (present day
Adams County. John Sr., as overseer of the Warrington Meeting, had
participated in two "disowning" procedures for his son John Jr. as well;
once for fighting Indians and another time for taking up arms against
the British.

This thread:

• WILSON family of Pennsylvania and North Carolina by "Tom Wilson" <>